Ninjas vs Zombies
by zlinka
Summary: New title. Wierd things are happening in Konoha. People are eating other people and there's a wierd virus floating around. Will the ninja's find out what's happening before it's too late? No couples yet.
1. Chapter 1

There are two important things that I need to say before I start this story. The first is, I don't won the Naruto series, and this is the only place that you'll see a disclaimer. The second is, is that if you don't like this story, because I'm trying to make it different then my other stories, you can blame my friend for introducing me to "The Zombie Survival Guide."

With that said, enjoy.

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Temari stood in front of the Hokage, waiting to be acknowledged by the fearsome woman. Tsunade-sama was frowning over a report that was handed to her by her assistant Shizune-san. Finally she looked up.

"Tell me in your own words what happened," she ordered, still glaring.

Ever the professional, Temari started her report. "Gaara, Kankuro, and I left on a C-rank mission to escort Fujita-sensei to Konoha. The three day journey was going smoothly, with no interruptions, until we were about three hours away from out destination…"

FLASH BACK

Kankuro and Fujita-sensei were in a heated conversation, well more like bitching session, about the youth of today and their lack of respect for their elders. Even though Temari was a year older then her brother, she knew he was grouping her into the "kids today" category, along with Gaara. The main hint that this was happening was that whenever Gaara or she looked back at them, Kankuro would immediately shut up and try to look innocent, which is a scary look on his face. Gaara didn't even have to look back, all he had to do was turn his head slightly, and the noise would stop.

Temari would watch Gaara from the corner of her eye whenever he did this. Every time he finished scaring Kankuro speechless, he would look back in front of him and grin. Not the psychotic grin that almost always adorned his face before his confrontation with Naruto, but a happy grin, one that she hadn't seen on his face since she was 5.

It got too much for her though, and the last time that he did this, she started chuckling. He just looked so cute, like a panda. Gaara immediately glared at her, but she was in too good a mood to be scared. To try and mollify him though, she tried to stop laughing while affecting a "who me?" pose. This was probably too much for both of them, because soon they were both giggling like school children, much to the disgust of Kankuro and Fujita-sensei.

There was no sound in the woods except for their laughter, which is what tipped Temari and Gaara off to the eminent attack. Within seconds their laughter stopped and they were on the alert. They barely moved as kunai were thrown onto the ground in front of them, and their attackers appeared.

Three men in their early twenties appeared before them. They wore no forehead protectors, but were obviously familiar with the use of chackra, because one of them started using hand seals to start off their attack. 'Must be academy wash outs,' she thought as she recognized the clone jutsu he just used.

In one smooth motion she unfurled her fan, and sent a gust of chackra laced wind at them, clones and all. It neatly rounded them up and knocked them to the ground. Then Gaara's sand covered them up and squished them.

Temari watched her brother's reaction, fearing to see the psychotic grin on his face, but she needn't have worried. He didn't even look smug about his victory, instead he looked entirely neutral. Not pleased about an easy victory or satiated because his sand got the blood it craved. They both relaxed when there weren't any more attackers.

They turned around to check on their client when they saw a man walking towards them, moaning. Kankuro put himself between Fujita- sensei and the man before he walked over to him to see if he needed help.

The man seemed to focus on Kankuro and walk towards him. He didn't respond to Kankuro when he asked him questions, just continued getting closer and closer. When Kankuro reached an arm our to either offer help or keep him away, the stranger grabbed his arm and pulled in towards his face. Before Kankuro could respond, the stranger bit his arm, then lifted his head and threw it away.

Continuing to moan, the stranger approached Fujita-sensei. Because Fujita-sensei was between her and the stranger, she couldn't use her fan. "Get down," she shouted, pulling some kunai out of her pouch. When Fujita-sensei responded, Temari threw her kunai at the newest attacker.

He didn't even bother dodging, and Temari watched in horror as the kunai embedded themselves deeply into the chest of the attacker and the attacker kept coming. Not even reacting to the fatal blows that she had just given him. Finally he reached the cowering figure of Fujita-sensei, and reached down to pull him off the ground. His head moved down to Fujita-sensei's shoulder and his teeth sank into the fleshy part.

Quickly Temari grabbed another kunai and threw it at the attacker, this time aiming for the head, the only clear target on the attackers body. Again, he didn't dodge the kunai; instead he ignored it to start chewing on Fujita-sensei's shoulder. The kunai embedded itself into the attackers eye. He fell backward due to the impact of this kunai, and lay on the ground unmoving.

Temari approached Fujita-sensei, already pulling bandages out of her pouch. "I'm so sorry about that Fujita-sensei. I should have been faster," she kept saying as she bandaged his bite wounds.

Gaara walked up to the newest body and kicked it. It didn't react, so he prepared to destroy the body. Temari noticed that his face changed from impassive to confused in moments.

"Hurry up Gaara, and destroy the body," Kankuro demanded, cursing at the chipped paint around his own "wound."

"…The sand… doesn't like it," Gaara stated hesitantly, "It doesn't want to touch the body."

"Well use fire," barked Kankuro, obviously irritated.

'That's weird. Gaara's sand has never turned down a body,' Temari thought as she tied off Fujita-sensei's bandage.

END FLASH BACK

"…We made our way here as quickly as possible. About half way here Fujita-sensei began to get weak and dizzy so we carried him. We checked Fujita-sensei into the hospital then came here, to the Hokage's Tower, to make our presence known to you," Temari finished.

"And that's everything that happened?" Tsunade-sama demanded.

"Yes, Tsunade-sama," Temari answered.

"You're dismissed. The main pass between Suna and Konoha has been cut off. It will take at least 48 hours before it's cleared. I would request that you stay in Konoha, so that if we need your assistance you will be easy to find."

"Understood Hokage sama," Temari answered before bowing and exiting the room. She found her brothers in the hall outside of the door. When they had arrived to make their report, she had requested that they do so individually. Gaara and Kankuro had already given her report, so they were waiting for Temari to finish.

"The pass is closed. We'll be staying in town until they clear it," Temari said, before heading off to the closest inn.

"That's good news for you," Kankuro sneered, "Now you get to spend time with your _boyfriend, Shikammaru-kun_," he finished in a high falsetto.

Even though it was sorely tempting, Temari refrained from giving her brother a well-deserved concussion.

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Hinata sat in the hallway, waiting for Tsunade-sama to finish interviewing Shino-kun. She had already given her individual report, but instead of going home, she waited. When Kiba-kun and Akamaru finished, they left for home.

Hinata understood that different people react differently to stressful situations. Kiba-kun probably wanted to be left alone after what they had seen today. On the other hand, being alone was the last thing that Hinata wanted.

FLASH BACK

"Man," Kiba-kun groaned, they had been assigned a D-rank mission, finding a lost puppy, "We are _so_ much better then this!"

"We are the best team for this mission," Shino-kun stated, neither denying or encouraging Kiba-kun's statement.

"Of course! Team Kiba's the best!" Kiba-kun declared.

"We are not Team Kiba," Shino-kun stated in his soothing monotonous voice.

"Of course we are! I'm the leader!"

"No."

It was an argument Hinata and Akamaru were used to. At first it had been upsetting, now it was just background noise.

"Oi, Hinata!" Kiba-kun shouted, "I'm the leader right?"

"K-keep me out of th-this," Hinata ordered while activating her bloodline limit. The byakugan showed her nothing in the immediate vicinity. To stretch it further would have been useless in the search for the puppy, because it was very small.

"Do you smell anything Akamaru?" she asked politely. Long ago she learned that Kiba-kun wasn't the only person Akamaru understood, so she started asking him questions directly, instead of using Kiba-kun as a translator.

Akamaru just shook his head. They started at the last known location of the puppy, and circled the area. It was a long and arduous process, which only ended when Akamaru picked up the puppies trail. They followed him as he trotted up to where the puppy was sniffing at the ground.

"Inu-chan," Hinata called softly as she knelt down. The puppy came over to investigate and yipped softly as it licked her fingers. She giggled as she scooped the puppy into her arms, snuggling her cheek into its fur. "Don't worry Inu-chan, we'll get you to your family soon."

They were making their way back to town when both Inu-chan and Akamaru began to growl menacingly. Even if there wasn't a trained ninja dog warning her about it, she would have still felt the evil in the forest.

"Byakugan," she whispered softly. At first she didn't see anything, but she knew she was going to have to look harder. After a few seconds, she saw something unusual. It was the outline of a human, kneeling over something or someone. It was too far away for her to see clearly.

"There's something that way," she pointed. As they got closer, Hinata was able to make out the chackra systems of their target. There was one intact one, which was the one laying on the ground, and one that was missing, which was the one kneeling. At first she thought that the kneeling one might be a puppet and the one on the ground might be the puppeteer, but there weren't any chackra strings. In fact the only chackra in the kneeling figure was centered around the brain.

The only sound in the woods now was a constant moaning interrupted by a whimpering. For a while now, Kiba-kun had been covering his nose, a clear indication that they were going to run across something that smelled bad. Finally the smell hit Hinata and Shino-kun, who also covered their nose. The smell reminded Hinata of a battlefield, all blood, excrement, and death.

The first thing that Hinata saw was the kneeling figure putting something in its mouth and chewing. It kept moaning though, so bits of whatever his was chewing was hanging from the corner of his mouth. When they approached, he turned his head, staring at them with blank eyes.

Slowly he stood up and shambled towards them. Shino-kun and Kiba-kun leapt away from her, to offer multiple targets. Hinata started running to the person on the ground, giving him a lot of room.

Hinata was knelt down next to the person on the ground. The person was a girl about Hinata's age with orange hair that was spread out around her face. The girl was whimpering and pleading with Hinata to help her. A thorough examination of the girl showed that she was missing giant chunks from her thighs. It looked as though something had been eating her.

She was so absorbed in making sure that the girl was okay that she didn't notice the approach of the man who had been chewing on the girl. The only warning she had was the sound of a kunai thudding into flesh. Hinata scrambled to her feet and backed away from the man.

She nearly gagged as she caught sight of what she now recognized as human skin hanging from the corner of her attackers mouth. There was a kunai sticking out of her ribs, and several more were on the way to joining it. One of them even lodged into her attackers throat, but nothing seemed to stop him.

Hinata backed up, until she ran into a tree. When she could go no further, she gathered chackra into her palm, and aimed for the only place that she saw chackra in her attackers body, the brain. She hit him hard in the forehead, shooting chackra through the skull and into the squishy grey matter inside. Inu-chan was still clutched in her other hand.

The second her palm made contact, her attacker stopped. It took several seconds of sustained chackra going strait into the brain, before he dropped to the ground twitching. Soon he stopped moving all together.

Once it hit the ground, Hinata sagged forward, feeling horribly drained. Any killing blow using the gentle fist took a lot of energy, but she never thought that a headshot would drain her so much. She felt as though she had gone 10 rounds with Neji-niisan.

Shino-kun approached her while Kiba-kun checked on the girl on the ground. Gently he picked her up and placed her on his back. Kiba-kun did the same for the girl on the ground after he had bandaged her leg wounds, and they ran back to town.

END FLASHBACK

After they had dropped the girl off at the hospital, Hinata and her team went to make their report. When Kiba-kun finished his, he volunteered to take Inu-chan back to his family, but Hinata declined.

She cuddled him closer as she waited for Shino-kun to finish his interview. It wasn't much, but she wasn't alone. That's how Shino-kun found her, snuggling up to a puppy for comfort.

"I'll walk you home," he said, not even raising an eyebrow. They dropped Inu-chan off on their way, accepting the praise for a job well done from his family. Hinata tried to smile at the touching reunion, but knew that she failed miserably.

He walked her to the apartment that she and Ten Ten-chan shared. Ten Ten-chan wasn't home yet though.

"Sh-Shino-kun," Hinata started timidly, "W-would you like to come in for tea?" She knew that Shino-kun doesn't like tea, but she was desperate.

Shino-kun nodded. When Ten Ten-chan returned, Shino-kun made his leave.

"I'll check up on you tomorrow," he promised before he went home.

That night Hinata had an uneasy sleep. Each dream that she had was filled with visions of herself and her loved ones being eaten alive.

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Tsunade frowned at the reports turned in by the orderly monitoring Fujita-sensei. It had been 21 hours since he had been checked in to the hospital. Since then he has developed a low-grade fever, which spiked to 105 degrees and had gone into full-blown dementia. He had lost control of his muscles and complained of feeling weak. The brown spots around his wound still hadn't faded, and now he was in a comma. It was not looking good for this patient.

Tsunade heard a knock on her door, "Enter!" she barked. Shizune-chan stuck her head in.

"Tsunade-sama, the patient that Team 8 brought in has gotten worse," she stated showing Tsunade the medical report for the girl. She was displaying the same symptoms that Fujita-sensei had before he fell into a coma.

"What's going on?" Tsunade asked herself, "these are fairly common symptoms and yet they are both getting worse. Nothing we do is working!"

"Maybe it's a jutsu," Shizune-chan suggested.

"I've never seen one like this though. It's acting like a virus, attacking cells. But unlike a normal virus, instead of just destroying the cells, it's mutating them, like a cancer."

"Do you want me to check to medical records?" Shizune-chan volunteered. Absentmindedly Tsunade nodded, "While I'm doing that, you need to catch up on your paper work."

"Don't I deserve a break," whined Tsunade as she reached for the nearest folder. "I've been working all day."

"Well, if you hadn't taken yesterday off, you would be finished with the work and could relax now," Shizune-chan admonished as she left the room.

Tsunade sighed as she opened the report. 'You know what would make the time go faster?' she thought to herself, opening her bottom drawer, ''Sake.'

"And don't drink any sake until you're done," Shizune-chan's voice floated through door. Tsunade closed the drawer, cursing under her breath.


	2. Chapter 2

Ten Ten was very annoyed with her teammate. If Lee-san were here, she wouldn't be so annoyed, but because Lee-san was on another mission, Neji-san had to make things difficult. 'It's very hard to start a conversation about someone, when the person you need to talk to has been ordered to never even mention that someone's name, under any circumstances,' she thought to herself.

"You are aware of how difficult you're making this, right?" she asked Neji-san as he practiced a kata.

"I know, but if Hiashi-sama ever discovers that I took part in a conversation that involved your roommate knowingly, he would punish me, and maybe even your roommate. Once you are disinherited from the Hyyuga clan, you are cut off from everyone in that clan, on pain of punishment," Neji-san explained.

Ten Ten knew this, and thought about how she could get the answers she needed. The look on Hinata's face had freaked her out, and she needed to know what she could do to help.

"Would you be able to answer my question if it was just for my own personal curiosity?" she asked, hoping that her knew ploy would work.

"That would depend on the question. If you wanted to know about confidential Hyuuga stuff, I would have to say no, but if it was a general question, then yes, I could answer it," Neji-san replied after a moment of thought.

"So, about how much chackra would it take to successfully complete a fatal head shot using the Gentle Fist?" Ten Ten asked, wanting to get the major question out of the way.

"It takes about twice as much chackra for a head shot as it does for any other attack on a vital organ. That's because unlike any of the other major organs, to get to the brain, chackra has to travel through bone, before it can do any damage. That's also why head shots aren't practiced often in the Gentle Fist, because unless the situation is very dire, a head shot is impractical," he explained as he finished up his kata and wiped the sweat off his forehead.

"So, it shouldn't drain you completely to kill using a head shot?" Ten Ten asked.

"That would depend on how much chackra you had when you started the head shot."

"Practically full reserve," Ten Ten ventured.

"Even an academy student wouldn't be completely drained if they were at full reserve," Neji-san scoffed. "So what brought on this bout of personal curiosity?"

Ten Ten just gave him a look, "Nothing really. Just a story my roommate's teammate told me." This was part of the code they had concocted when Hinata-chan moved in with Ten Ten. Anytime Ten Ten needed to tell Neji-san about Hinata-chan, but there wasn't a third person around, it would become something Hinata-chan's teammates had told her. It was weak, but if Hiashi-sama ever put Neji-san under a truth jutsu, he could honestly say that he had heard nothing from, about, or remotely involving his cousin, Hinata the Outcast.

"Once upon a time there was a ninja team. They consisted of a young man from a bug using clan, another young man from a dog clan, and a young lady who was born into the most powerful clan in the ninja village…" and through the story Ten Ten explained to her teammate what had happened to Hinata and her team while on their mission.

"That was a most enlightening story Ten Ten," Neji said, "It reminded me of a scroll that I read once as a child. I think I shall try and find it after practice and tell you about it tomorrow," Neji-san always acted formal when they were doing covert operations. He was specifically formal in their dealings that involve Hinata-chan because every Hyuuga is taught from birth to honor the main family, and 6 months of banishment was not going to erase 14 years of tradition.

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Sakura was anxious. Something was bothering Tsunade-sama and not the normal, 'Orochimaru and/or Akatsuki is plotting against us,' kind of worry. If only it were that vague. Tsunade-sama was worried about something specific and immediate.

It had something to do with the mission that she and Lee-san were on. He was his usual enthusiastic self. He gushed when he was given the assignment, and to some extent, Sakura was flattered. True, he wasn't as handsome as Sasuke-kun or a genius like Neji-san, but at least he knew how to appreciate her for the strong, determined, delicate flower that she is.

Casually Sakura skipped to the next branch some thirty feet away, and glanced backward at her companion. Briefly she admired the way the horrible green spandex clung to his muscles, emphasizing how they flexed with each move he made, before she focused on his face. His eyebrows and bottom eyelashes still turned her off a little, but the passion and determination in his black eyes almost made up for it.

'If only he had a different gennin sensei,' she thought ruefully to herself. But she knew that without Gai-sensei, Lee-san wouldn't even be a ninja, so the thought wasn't too fervent.

"Lee-san," Sakura called, "We're almost at the mission site. Do you want to take a quick breath and go over the specifics of the mission?" That was another thing that was bothering her about the mission. Normally Tsunade-sama would go over the mission with them in her office. Today she gave them the scroll and told them to leave.

"Hai Sakura-san," Lee-san responded, sounding clipped and direct. With the ease of long practice he dropped to the ground from mid-air, and landed silently. Sakura followed suit, and they knelt down by the roots of a big tree.

Sakura made a cursory glance for spies, then took out the still un-opened scroll. She set it between herself and Lee-san, so that he could read it at the same time as she. It read:

_The main pass between Suna and Konoha has collapsed. You are to go there and investigate the incident. While you are there, investigate the local towns. There have been reports of an epidemic. The symptoms of the victims closely resemble those of two patients here in the Konoha hospital._

_The symptoms include high fever, brownish markings around the wound, weakness in the limbs, delirium, unconsciousness, and if it progresses, death. So far, everyone who has contracted this injury, was bitten by someone before they started showing symptoms. Most likely that is how the disease is spread._

_Find evidence of who is behind this, and report back to me personally. This scroll will self-destruct in 10 seconds._

Sakura would have re-read the scroll, if it weren't burning away slowly. If what the scroll hinted at was true, that would mean that someone was trying was using biological warfare. Something that had been banned from the five ninja nations because it was too horrible.

"All right Lee-san," Sakura started shakily. "It looks like we should split up. I'll go to the towns, and investigate the epidemic. You go to the pass, and look for signs of sabotage."

It was silent for a second, "No Sakura-san," Lee-san said finally. "I know that there is an urgency to this mission, but we need to stick together. We are in unfamiliar territory and a single ninja is never a welcome sight."

Sakura thought on his words. They made sense. Rushing in alone was something that all of Tsunade-sama's training was against. But if someone was using biological warfare, then they needed to get to Konoha and warn the Hokage before it was too late. Of course they couldn't warn anybody about the danger if they died while gathering the evidence.

"Alright," she reluctantly agreed, "We'll start with the pass. Most likely if that was done deliberately, then the evidence would be seen easily. Besides, if there is evidence of sabotage at the pass, the epidemic is most likely done on purpose. Hopefully the town's will have some clue about how to stop it."

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Ino was bored. There were no missions today, so she had been corralled into helping out at her families flower shop. To make matters worse, no one wanted to bye flowers today. She stood by the register, watching the flowers die slowly as they waited for someone to notice their beauty and purchase them.

She sighed as she watched yet another person walk by the shop without even looking at the flowers in the display case. Boring days depressed Ino. She liked being busy and having a mission, whether from the Hokage or from her mom. At least when she had stuff to do, her mind didn't wander to the sadder parts of her life.

Before she could sink too deeply into her morose thoughts, she heard the bell on the door to the shop ring. She looked up expectantly, then almost sighed again in disappointed.

"Oh, it's just you," she muttered as Shikamaru-kun strolled through the store and over to lean against the counter she was at.

"You're going to spoil me with all the enthusiasm you're displaying," Shikamaru-kun muttered sarcastically.

"What do you want?" Ino snapped, almost in a better mood because of the distraction, but not enough to let Shikamaru-kun know.

"When are you off?" he asked her, which only annoyed her because he didn't answer her question.

"Answer my question and I'll answer yours," she tried to negotiate.

"Okay, never mind," Shikamaru-kun shrugged as he turned to the entrance.

"I close at 6:30," Ino informed him grudgingly.

"Why so late?"

"I answered your question. Now answer mine!" Ino was getting impatient.

"Temari and her brothers are in town, and she asked if we wanted to go out to dinner," Shikamaru-kun shrugged.

Ino's female senses were tingling. Shikamaru-kun was being too casual about this. Normally he would send Chouji-kun in for an invitation like this.

"What aren't you telling me?" she asked suspiciously. She noticed Shikamaru-kun's ear twitch, 'Busted!'

"She didn't ask for all of us," Ino accused, pointing a finger at him in triumph. "And why should she? She really only knows you in town, not me or Chouji-kun."

"She said that she and her brothers were going to be in town for a while, and that I should join them for dinner," Shikamaru-kun groused.

"Please tell me that she you aren't trying to set me up with one of her brothers," Ino sneered.

"It's just dinner," Shikamaru-kun muttered.

Ino sighed loudly. "So who else are you thinking of inviting?" Shikamaru-kun shrugged in response. "Never trust a "genius" to do a Yamanaka's job," she muttered to herself. "Who ever it is will have to have no social life, and be someone that I can stand to be around, so Sakura-chan's out," she muttered to herself.

"I thought you and Sakura-san were getting along now that Uchiha-san left the village," Shikamaru-kun questioned.

"Oh, Forehead-girl and I are tight," Ino explained, "I just can't be around her for very long before we start to argue."

"So, who would you invite?" Shikamaru-kun asked, exasperated.

"How about Hinata-chan?" Ino suggested.

"Hinata?"

"Yeah," Ino was getting more into the idea, "She's sweet, and polite, and it's almost impossible to get mad at her."

"Hmm. All right. I'll go explain the situation to her," Shikamaru-kun then turned to leave.

"Wait!" Ino shouted, "Do a better job of asking her then you did me. She might think you were asking her out, then be crushed when you ignored her the whole evening while you flirted with Temari."

"We don't flirt," Shikamaru-kun spluttered.

"Yeah right."

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Breath was escaping his lungs in great bursts as he ran. He tried not to look behind her, concentrating on the ground in front of him, but morbid curiousity had him in its grips. Desperately he peeked over his shoulder, slowing down only enough to complete the action.

The sound of their consistent moan had been following him since he escaped from the village. It felt like no matter how fast he had been going the sound still followed him. When he didn't see anyone materializing from the fog behind him, he stopped to catch his breath.

He placed his hands on his knees and leaned against a tree. His head was facing the ground, but his ears were open for the sound of THEM coming any closer to him. It was hard sometimes, because the sound of his frantically beating heart and rasping breath tried to fill his ears, but he valiantly fought this effect off.

After about a minute, he continued running. He wasn't sure where he was going, all he knew is that he had to get away. Any place was safer then here.

Blindly he ran, unconsciously avoiding obstacles. His body was on autopilot as his mind screamed about the helplessness of the situation he was in. He knew what THEY did to his village. His friends and neighbors being torn apart by one another. The screams of the victims would echo through his mind well into his old age. That is if he lived to old age.

"Oof," he said eloquently as he hit something both soft and firm. He had been going so fast, that he fell backwards onto his butt, and started scrambling away from whatever it was that he had impacted. He didn't even bother looking at it as he scrambled away, and onto his feet.

"Are you okay?" a concerned male voice called after him. Slowly he turned so that he was facing the voice. It was a young man, a little older then him, in violently green spandex. Behind him peeked out a pink haired young woman, wearing red.

He tried working his mouth to warn them, but no sound escaped his throat. He heard the sound of THEM coming closer, and all thoughts of warning left his mind. He started running away from the sound, leaving the two strangers to their fate.

Well that was the plan, except that one of them caught him easily in their grip. He struggled to escape, but their grip held firm. Finally hhe went limp, knowing that he couldn't escape now. THEY were going to catch up to him and the two strangers, and then he would be consigned to the same fate as his friends and family. He swallowed hard and attempted to speak again.

"Let me go," he whispered raggedly, "Please let me go. I can't let THEM get me," he knew that she was crying and begging, but he didn't care. Bravery was for idiots who hadn't seen what he had seen.

"Let who get you?" the woman asked, concerned.

"THEM!" he shrieked. There was no way to describe THEM. THEY were just a horror that had no name. "Please, we have to get out. Warn other people."

"What happened?" the man said.

"THEY came. THEY started out as sick. Fever. Unconsciousness. Then THEY died. But not really. THEY stood up and started eating people. The screams. The whimpers. Nowhere is safe. Gotta escape…" by this point, he was staring blankly ahead, accepting that there was no escape now. He just whimpered and raved about what he had seen.

"Lee-san," the woman said urgently, "I think he's talking about the epidemic that has been plaguing the villages around here."

"Hai Sakura-san," the man agreed, "We'd best get him to Konoha, and report to the Hokage." The grip on him shifted from restraint to carrying. Then the feeling of leaving the ground wafted through him.


	3. Chapter 3

Hinata was sitting in the kitchen that she shared with Ten Ten, still a little confused by what had just transpired. Nara-san had just left, after his unannounced visit.

FLASH BACK

Hinata had heard a polite knock on her door, so she opened it. She didn't know whom to expect, because she wasn't waiting for anyone, but it certainly wasn't Nara-san. They went to school together, lived in the same village, and occasionally had missions together, but that was the extent of their interactions. He stood with his hands in his pockets and his usual slouch. Hinata had the impression that he was embarrassed, even though he didn't show it.

She made sure that her confusion didn't show as she relied on the hours of hostess training that she had received as a child to see her through. "Nara-san," she greeted him with a polite smile. "What a pleasant surprise. Would you like to come in?" He nodded and walked into her apartment. She could feel his eyes going over the décor, and was very grateful that she had cleaned the room up a little this morning.

They stood awkwardly for a while, not sure how to proceed with the other. Finally, as the hostess, Hinata took control of the situation.

"I was just about to make some tea," she lied, "Would you like some?" Before he could answer, she was making her way into the kitchen, pulling out the kettle and filling it with water.

"That would be nice," Nara-san said politely. Hinata had always heard that the Nara were lax in teaching manners, but that news had always come from Hyuuga-sama, and he was incredibly biased against anyone who was not a Hyuuga.

'So what brings you here?" she questioned as she set the kettle on the stove, and started getting cups out of the cupboard.

"Well," he started off awkwardly and stopped. Hinata waited patiently for him to continue. "I'm not here to ask you out for a date."

Hinata blinked at him, "Alright," she said slowly. Not sure if she should be insulted. She had never considered dating him, but it kind of hurt that he hadn't considered dating her either.

Nara-san must have caught his social blunder then, because he started back tracking quickly, "Not that I wouldn't ever ask you out for a date," he assured her, "I just don't really know you that well… But I'm sure that you're a perfectly nice person…" Hinata could see that he was out of his depth, and being the naturally kind person that she was, decided to throw him a metaphorical life preserver.

"T-that's alright Nara-san. W-what are you here for?" She giggled slightly at the relieved look that crossed his face. He shot her an annoyed look, then shook his head ruefully.

"Sorry. Ino-chan told me to make sure that you don't think that I'm asking you out," he explained. Hinata remained quiet at this news, waiting for him to continue. Before he could, the teakettle started to whistle, letting Hinata know that it was time to ask the important question.

"W-what kind of tea would you like?" she interrupted, "We have och-cha, l-lavender, and Earl G-grey."

"Ocha would be nice, thank you." Hinata nodded and prepared two cups of ocha. When she finished, she handed one of them to Nara-san, and led him over to the kitchen table to sit.

"So," she prompted, "Y-you were saying?"

"Ah. Temari and her brothers are in town for a while. She invited me and some friends to join them for dinner tonight."

"And Ino-chan s-suggested me?" Hinata inquired politely.

"Yeah. She said that you're really good company," Hinata could tell that that wasn't the only reason that Ino-chan had given for inviting her, but she didn't press it.

"I d-don't have any p-plans for t-tonight," she conceded. "W-when and w-where do we meet?"

END FLASHBACK

With a philosophical shrug Hinata finished her tea, cleared the table, and did the dishes from this morning. The silence in the apartment was beginning to gnaw at her mind, so she went into the living room and turned the radio on.

A steady base beat started up, slowly Hinata's foot started tapping to the beat. The White Stripe's "Seven Nation Army" filled the room as Hinata allowed the music to carry her mind away from the gruesome events of the other day.

She started doing a little hoppy dance, allowing her hips to swing wildly from side to side as her arms stretched out in any direction that had the space for it. She closed her eyes and let herself relish the freedom of dancing alone.

Finally she opened her eyes, and stifled a gasp at the human figure that was lurking in the shadows of her living room.

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Sakura was leaping from branch to branch as fast as her legs would allow. The silence of the forest was beginning to get to her, making her paranoid about her surroundings. She palmed a kunai to comfort herself.

"Lee-san," she called, "Can we take a break? I think that I should take a look at our friend." Lee-san, who was three branches in front of her nodded, and fell to the earth. Sakura followed.

They both landed neatly. Immediately Sakura knelt down and readied her healing chackra. By the time Lee-san set the civilian on the ground in front of her, she was in her healing trance.

'No external damage,' her chackra told her, 'No internal bleeding. Just adrenaline remnants, an unsteady heart beat, and muscle exhaustion.'

"Lee-san," she started, still partially in her trance, "There's no physical reason for him to pass out after you picked him up. He's just really scared of whatever it is he was running from. He'll be fine with some rest."

"You're so great Sakura-san," Lee-san gushed. Sakura blushed at the praise. "I would have just assumed that by what he was saying and the way he tried to escape us when he stopped him," Lee-san cheerfully pointed out, "But now we know for sure that he was really scared."

Sakura glared at him, even though he was being perfectly sincere. 'He can't help it that he is just that honest,' she thought to herself, trying to keep from knocking him unconscious.

"Uhh," a voice came from somewhere between them. Sakura looked down to see that the young man they picked up earlier starting to wake up. "W-where am I?" he asked in a hoarse voice.

Sakura smiled reassuringly at him, "You're safe," she informed him, trying to keep him calm. "Can you tell us what happened?"

He blinked up at her blurrily, and then turned to look at Lee-san. "I k-know you," he said, "You saved me." There was a silence, as it seemed that he was trying to gather his thoughts.

"They attacked," the young man said finally, quietly. "They had been sick, so sick that they went to the doctors. We were arranging their funerals when it happened." Sakura really wanted to interrupt to get more information, but stopped herself. Something told her that he needed to get everything out all at once or else he wouldn't finish his story. "All at once, 5, no 10 started biting people. We tried to stop them… tried to save them… but they wouldn't stop. They just kept coming, killing everything in their path," his eyes glazed over and he was no longer talking to them, "Oh God!" he shouted suddenly, "Miyuki-chan! Mother! Make them stop! Make them be quiet! I-I'm sorry!" With that, he fainted again. Sakura checked his vitals again, relieved to see that that he was still alive.

"We have to report back to Tsunade-sama right away," she told him unnecessarily. Lee-san nodded and began picking up the limp form of the young man. He was just beginning to put him comfortably on his back when they heard the noise.

It was low and incessant. It was also coming closer. Sakura helped Lee-san gather the young man and position him onto Lee-san's back. She didn't know why, but the sound sent shivers of dread down her spine, making her want to escape as quickly as possible.

They got him onto Lee-san's back just as the first figure appeared from seemingly out of nowhere. "You go," she ordered Lee-san, "I'll cover you." They needed to get this man to Tsunade-sama. He was the only one who knew what to expect. Lee-san nodded, and leaped to the closest branch. Sakura waited until he was high in the tree branches and again making his way to Konoha before she followed.

The one figure turned into two, and followed her with it's dead eyes. She made it to the first branch, but it gave out under her weight. It snapped, practically in half, causing her to hit the ground harder then she was prepared for.

She cast her eyes wildly, looking for another branch to jump to. There were none near by, so she started running in the direction Lee-san went. She ran into something in front of her, and fell again. The low constant noise was still there and just as horrible. Someone grabbed her from behind.

Instinct took over and Sakura slammed her fist into the nearest target. The target was a man, with sores and dead eyes. He was hit in the chest, a blow that should have killed instantly; instead he stumbled back several feet and kept coming.

A searing pain entered her shoulder, and she turned towards it. An old woman was biting into her shoulder. Sakura watched as her blood squirted out of the corner of the woman's mouth. Sakura slammed her fist into the woman's head, causing a dent to form and the woman to fall. She didn't get up again. Sakura placed her hand on the wound to stop the bleeding.

A motion to her left had Sakura spinning her leg out to connect with the head of the man in front of her. He crumpled this time, and seemed to be dead. Sakura wasn't going to chance it however, and she gathered chackra to her feet. She ran up the nearest tree and followed the path that Lee-san and the young man took.

When she finally reached them, she called for another break, this time on a thick branch, not the ground. She removed her hand, and frowned at the lack of blood on her glove. She craned her neck to look at the wound, and frowned at what she saw.

The wound was closed, with brownish purple marks spreading around it. It was swollen and puffy, letting Sakura know that she had been infected.

"Lee-san," she said urgently, "I need to find a cave." Lee-san frowned at this, but nodded. After some searching, they found it. Sakura stepped into the cave and faced Lee-san, "I need you to seal me in here."

"But Sakura-san," Lee-san protested.

"You're going to seal me in here and make your way to Tsunade-sama. I've been infected, and if what I think is happening is happening, this is Konoha's best hope of survival."

"But Sakura-san!"

"Tell Tsunade-sama that I was infected, and that I'm sealing myself in here. Hopefully I'll be able to find a cure for what's going on. If I can't, this means that at least I won't be a danger to anyone else. Those things that attacked us are somehow connected to the epidemic. Now seal me in!" she ordered, making her voice as scary as possible.

Lee-san blinked at her several times, before nodding. He looked very serious as he jumped up and kicked right above the entrance of the cave. Sakura backed up so the rubble wouldn't hit her.

Before she was plunged into darkness, she took one look at Lee-san. He looked back at her solemnly, "I love you Sakura-san," he declared, "And I'll return to you as soon as I can." Sakura didn't respond. The last thing she was possibly going to see being the face of Rock Lee, Beautiful Green Beast of Konoha.

"Thank you Lee-san," she whispered into the darkness.

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Ayame hummed to herself as she scurried to the market. The shop had run out of green onions and father had sent her to get some more before the dinner guests came. She didn't notice the people as she weaved her way through crowds. She didn't really notice anything on these errands unless there was something in her way, and even then she would only notice it long enough to get around it.

She gasped as she ran into someone, which is unusual because people normally know to get out of her way. Father forgets to get at least one ingredient for the ramen a day. The person in front of her looked very pale, and possibly sick. Their eyes were glazed over and they were wheezing very heavily.

"Ah, excuse me sir," she said politely as stepped around him. She was disturbed when she caught him out of the corner of her eye, turning to watch her leave, before continuing to shamble away.

She noticed that she was watching people more today after the incident. She noticed a small group of children playing while a several adults watched haphazardly as they gossiped. There were some old men playing shougi, the youngest Nara was scowling at the board as his opponent made his move. Ayame was sure that he would win.

The market was moderately busy. There was a small line at the cashier stand, and a few people wondering the isle. Because she had done this trip so often, Ayame knew exactly where to find the green onions she needed, and headed there without pausing at the door.

It was while she was waiting in line to purchase the onions that she noticed the gentleman again. He was standing in a field, staring blankly at the building she was in. She shivered, and turned away. When she looked back he was staring intently at a pigeon that he landed several feet away from him. She watched in morbid fascination as he came closer, almost stalking the pigeon. Suddenly, his arm clumsily streaked out and picked the pigeon up. She was about to warn someone, but no one seemed to mind. A cart passed between her and the gentleman, and when it passed, he was gone.

Weakly she smiled at the checker as she exchanged money for green onions. She half listened as the checker exchanged pleasantries with her, or at least attempted to. She was too distracted by what she might have just witnessed to care about being polite and therefore she was a little surprised when the cashier rudely asked her to have a nice day.

She made her way back to the ramen shop, but quite a bit slower then she usually does. Something was off today, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. She cringed as she heard a sneeze and felt something wet slowly trickle down her neck. She glared at the perpetrator, but they weren't paying attention to her.

Ayame was in a bad mood when she returned to the restaurant. She slammed her bag of green onions onto the counter by the sink. Roughly she took them out and started rinsing them off, more roughly then needed but not so roughly that it would damage the flavor.

"Ah, Ayame-chan," her father said weakly. She spun around to face her him. He looked horrible, and he was clutching a rag over his wrist.

"Father!" she exclaimed, rushing to his side, "What happened to you?" Moving the produce out of the way, she thrust her father's wound under the faucet and turned the water on.

"There was a boy, about 15 years old. He just stood there, it sounded like he was moaning. I told him that we were closed, and he just stood there. It was like he wasn't even paying attention to me, so I reached over the counter to tap him. He just grabbed my arm and _bit_ me! I shoved him and he fell onto the street. That was the last I saw of him."

"Well, you can't make ramen with this wound," she said. "Why don't you go home? I'll call Hiro-san and we can take care of the dinner crowd."

"I can't leave you like this," Father protested feebly as she gently pushed him towards his coat in the back.

"You won't be," she assured him, "Today isn't going to be too busy and you'll be back on your feet by tomorrow, when we'd really need you here." She smiled winningly at him as she helped him put his coat on. Before he knew what was happening he had been pushed out the door.

Ayame leaned against the door and breathed out a heavy breath. She had lied a little to her father, tonight would be fairly busy, maybe a little more busy then just Hiro-san and herself could handle, but they would prevail.

She finished rinsing the green onions and picked up the phone to call Hiro-san. 'Tonight is going to be interesting,' she thought ruefully as she dialed the number.


	4. Chapter 4

I can't believe how long it's been since I last updated this story. Sorry that it's taken so long, but that's the way it is some times. For those that actually read this story, thank you and enjoy. I would also like to assure you that I am planning on finishing this story, no matter how long it takes.

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Ino was kind of excited. She was going to have something other then training to look forward to after work. Admittedly it was dinner with a bitch and her creepy brothers, but it was going to be something new and exciting. Soon after Shikamaru-kun had left, with instruction on how to properly invite Hinata-chan to dinner, she called up her cousin to take over the closing of the shop.

Her cousin would arrive at four, giving Ino two hours to get ready before Shikamaru-kun picked her up for the dinner. 'Silly boy actually thinks that I'm going to go to dinner in my work clothes?' she laughed to herself. 'A true beauty such as myself has to look her best at all times, but especially when entertaining foreign dignitaries.' That's what she had decided to call the visiting Suna ninjas when she explained to her parents why she hadn't finished her shift at the shop.

Ino drummed her fingers on the counter as she stared at the clock, willing the time to go by faster. It was only 3:30, but she felt like it had been an eternity since Shikamaru-kun had stopped by with his invitation.

To help relieve the boredom Ino took out the broom, and started sweeping the imaginary dust up off the floor. She knelt down with the dust pan and scooped up the findings. As she stood she heard the bell on the front door tinkle cheerfully.

"I'll be with you in a moment," she called over her shoulder as she put the broom and dust bin away. After wiping her hands off she turned to help the customer.

"Hello, how can I help you?" she asked politely, before getting a good look at her customer. "Gaara-san." She gasped, looking wide eyed at the scary red-head carrying the over sized gourd full of sandy death.

"Yamanaka-san," Gaara-san said, deadpan, staring at the displays of flowers with a look of trepidation. Gaara-san didn't say anything after that, just looked around the room.

Finally it became to weird for Ino. "The flowers won't bite you," she teased, only to have Gaara-san's unreadable eyes focus on her.

"Then what is their purpose?" Gaara-san asked seriously.

Ino's brow furrowed as she thought of an answer to a question she had never been asked. "To look pretty and smell good mostly," she answered eventually.

"So they are useless," Gaara-san sniffed.

"N-no," Ino protested, unsure of why she felt so strongly that the flowers were not useless. "Flowers are important. They make people feel special." Gaara lifted a hairless eyebrow at her, encouraging her to continue. "Flowers are given to people to show that they are special, to show that they matter to someone."

"So all flowers do is make people feel special?" Gaara asked, sounding as though making people feel special was not such a good thing.

"Some flowers can be used in healing and making poisons," Ino conceded, "But mostly flowers are a way of saying something without using words."

"How?" Gaara-san demanded.

"Well, each flower has a meaning, and that meaning can change slightly based of the color of the flower. But also the meaning can change by the intention of the person giving the flower." Ino said desperately. She had never quite had to answer a question like this before.

"So what are the meanings of these," he said, pointing to a display of roses.

"Roses are easy," she said haughtily. "They mean love and the color describes the kind of love. Yellow means friendship love, pink means romantic love, and red means passionate love."

Gaara raised an eyebrow at her. "Which color will the Nara bring to Temari tonight?" he asked softly. Ino almost didn't catch the question.

"I don't think Shikamaru-kun was planning on bringing flowers," she answered honestly. "Does Temari-chan want him to?" Gaara-san didn't answer her, instead he walked around the room once more before he left. Ino cocked her head to the side as she watched him walk away from the shop. 'That was weird, better warn Shikamaru to bring flowers.'

"Ino-chan!" a happy voice called out from the door that Gaara-san just exited. "I'm here to cover for you. Just remember that you owe me."

"Don't you worry Miyuki-chan, I'll definitely cover you the next time you have to entertain foreign dignitaries," Ino promised as she sailed out of the shop. Miyuki-chan chuckled appreciatively, possibly assuming that Ino was joking about her activities that evening. Ino shook her head as she rounded a corner and took the stairs to the apartment above the shop that her parents owned.

"I'm home," Ino called out, not really expecting an answer. To-san had had a mission today and Ka-san had said that she would be busy running errands until late. Ino was tempted to just leave and not tell them why she had let her cousin close shop, but instead she wrote a quick note explaining what had happened. Her parents would understand.

Once that chore was finished she pinned up her hair and prepared to scrub down a little, before she had a brilliant idea. Ino really liked Hinata-chan, mostly because she was quiet and didn't try to steal Sasuke-kun. 'It might be fun to get ready for tonight together,' she thought as she gather her potential outfits for herself and some make-up. For the sake of time, and the practice, Ino placed the objects on top of a blank scroll and did the proper hand gestures. In a poof of odorless smoke the objects disappeared and writing took their place on the scroll.

Ino double checked her handy work, then nodded with satisfaction. Quickly she rolled the scroll and building hopped to the apartment that Hinata-chan and Ten Ten-chan shared.

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Shino was concerned when Hinata-chan didn't answer the door. He had knocked, then knocked a second time. Finally he decided that he needed to enter the apartment without permission. The second he opened the door he was bombarded music. It showed just how well the apartment was sound proofed, because he hadn't heard or felt anything at the door.

As he made his way deeper into the apartment, the music grew louder. It was coming from the living room, so that's where he went. He probably shouldn't have been as surprised by what he saw as he was.

There was Hinata-chan, shacking her butt in time with the music. Her arms twisted in the air, going every which direction. She was definitely caught up in what she was doing, just enjoying herself. Shino didn't want to intrude on the moment, but he knew that it was inevitable.

She stopped suddenly and stared at him. She gasped and started to back away from him. It took him a while to understand that she didn't recognize him.

"Hinata-chan," he said slowly as he stepped out of the shadows. "I came to see how you were doing."

"S-Shino-kun," she gasped, before turning the music off. The void left was almost deafening. "Y-you s-startled m-me."

"I did not intend to," Shino explained. "I knocked, but you did not answer."

Hinata-chan blushed and looked down at the floor. "I g-guess I d-didn't h-hear you." Shino nodded at the statement.

"I take it that you are feeling better?" Shino asked, as though yesterday hadn't been as traumatizing as it had been. Yes it had been scary to see that individual lurching towards Hinata, human skin hanging from its lips. It was nerve wracking to see that the individual had taken lethal strikes from his kunai and kept going. Finally, just seeing Hinata-chan's eyes as she realized that all her chackra had been sucked out of her during the killing blow.

"A l-little. Th-the s-silence was g-getting to b-be t-too m-much for m-me th-though," she answered honestly. "A-and it d-doesn't h-help th-that y-you w-were l-lurking in th-the sh-shadows." Hinata-chan laughed a little at the statement, possible to let him know that she wasn't serious.

Very few people knew about Hinata-chan's sense of humor. She was normally too shy for people to get to know her.

"I do not lurk," Shino stated with overly offended pride. "I loiter." As few people as there were who knew about Hinata-chan's sense of humor, even fewer knew about Shino's.

"T-tisk t-tisk," Hinata giggled. "Y-you are s-such a d-delinquent."

There was a loud knock on the door that interupted any comment that he was going to make. Hinata-chan looked over it in confusion, then glanced at Shino. Shino raised an eyebrow at her.

"I-I g-guess I'm p-pretty p-popular t-today," she laughed as she motioned him to sit down.

Shino heard her answer the door. "Hinata-chan!" Ino-san's voice sang out. "I thought that we could get ready for dinner together. I brought some dresses and make-up. What do you think?"

Shino made his way to the front door. "What dinner would this be?" he asked Hinata.

"W-we are g-going t-to b-be h-having d-dinner t-tonight w-with s-some n-ninja's f-from th-the s-sand," Hinata-chan answered. "B-but th-that isn't f-for a c-couple of h-hours."

"Exactly!" Ino-san exclaimed. "It's barely anytime at all to get ready. Besides, I think Temari-san is expecting a date with Shika-chan, so we have to decide if we're going to let her have one. If we do, that pretty much makes it a triple date. And if that happens I call that kabuki doll brother of hers," Ino laughed at her joke.

"O-oh," Hinata-chan said chuckling quietly, she looked at Shino questioningly. "H-how about I m-make s-something t-to eat f-first, th-then w-we c-can g-get r-ready f-for d-dinner."

"Great idea Hinata-chan. I'll get everything set up while we wait," Ino-san stated as she made her way towards Hinata-chan's bedroom. "Hello Shino-san." she greeted as she passed him.

"Ino-san," Shino replied evenly. "Should I stay Hinata-chan?" he asked.

Hinata-chan thought about it for a while then nodded. "Y-you c-can h-help m-me w-with th-the s-snack, b-but after th-that you w-will p-probably w-want t-to g-go h-home. U-unless you h-have any m-make-up t-tips f-for us th-that is," she teased.

"I think you and Ino-san will be able to muddle through that without my help," Shino stated with a chuckle. "Although you should keep in mind that you are a winter."

"Was that a joke Aburame Shino-san?" Ino-san teased from behind him. She circled to the front of him, "Because if it isn't I have this great shade of lipstick that would really make those sunglasses pop." Shino raised an eyebrow at her and went to help Hinata prepare the food. Ino just laughed as she followed.

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Lee ran through the forest, fully aware of the growing weight of the survivor on his back. He was fighting with himself about abandoning Sakura-chan, but he knew that she was right. It was more important to get the warning to Konoha then to save his love. He also knew that the sight of Sakura's face as the rocks fell to the ground between them would haunt his dreams for quite some time.

"Don't worry sir," Lee assured the unconscious man, "We shall arrive in safety soon enough."

Faintly Lee heard the sounds of moaning from beneath him. As he jumped from one branch to the next he stole a peak down. Bellow him seemed to be a sea of infected people, shambling along towards Konoha. There was no end to them.

Lee decided that he need to take drastic measures, so he took a quick break. Gently he leaned the survivors limp body against a thick tree trunk, before he knelt down, and with great care, removed the weights around his calves. Reluctantly he left them draped over a sturdy branch that never the less began to bend under the weight.

He picked up the body again, positioned it so that it wouldn't fall off with the increased speed, and took off again. The infected individuals soon became a blur as he leaped from branch to branch, making his way home to complete the mission given to him from the love of his life.

"Don't worry Sakura-chan. I will return for you," he promised as the skyline of Konoha peeked over the horizon. Below and behind him the moans of the infected filled the air as they headed towards the city. Lee knew that he was running for his and everyone's life.


	5. Chapter 5

Gaara sat on a park bench, staring at nothing in particular. He had to give deep consideration to conversation he had had with Yamanaka-san. Flowers made people feel special, and Temari said she wanted this evening to be special... 'So flowers are a necessary component to the success of the evening...'

But Nara wasn't bringing her flowers. Could the evening be special without the flowers? Gaara thought back on the conversation he had had with Temari earlier.

FLASHBACK

Gaara watched with interest as Temari rummaged through the clothing she brought with her for the mission. Like the rest of her gear it was in good condition, but she seemed dissatisfied with what she found. She would lift an article of clothing out of her bag, hold it against her body, then throw it down on the bed.

"This is crap," she muttered, staring at the pile of discarded clothes.

"What's wrong with your clothes?" Gaara asked. To him the clothes looked fine.

"Nothing," Temari snapped. "They just aren't right for tonight."

"Explain," Gaara demanded.

"I don't know how to explain," Temari stated, turning toward him. "Tonight is no big deal, just dinner with a friend," it sounded as though she was talking more to herself then Gaara, "but I want him to know that I know it's not special, by wearing something great, and everything I brought just isn't... isn't _great_!"

"But if you wear something great, won't he think that tonight is special?" Gaara asked, brows furrowed. She wasn't making any sense.

"I want him to think that tonight is special, even though it isn't," Temari said exasperated. "If he thinks it's special he'll try to make it special."

"So... tonight isn't special, but you want it to be?" Gaara asked.

"Yes! But Cry Baby can't know that. If he knew that I wanted tonight to be special he'd laugh his whiny little ass off."

"How will he make tonight special?" Gaara asked.

"I don't know. Bring me flowers or something," Temari scoffed, before sneering at her pile of clothes and putting them away. "Alright, let's go shopping!" she shouted, dusting her hands off and looking excited.

"No," Gaara said bluntly. He hated shopping. Especially for clothes.

"Yes," Temari said,just as bluntly, "You and Kanky need something special for tonight too."

"Hey! Leave me out of this!" Kankurou shouted from the other room

"Otherwise Cry Baby will definitely know that something is up," Temari continued, completely ignoring the protest. "Besides, most of your clothes are dirty. You should really do laundry more often," she added just a touch louder then before.

Gaara grunted, in the other room Kankurou started cursing. It was true the he should probably do laundry more often, but he hated doing it. It took forever, then the clothes just got dirty again. What was the point?

END FLASHBACK

So they had gone shopping, and Gaara picked out something new to wear. Temari assured him that while they were special clothes, they didn't look special. Gaara was completely confused, but Temari seemed satisfied.

After they returned from shopping Temari kicked Kankuro and him out, because she had to "get ready." Gaara was confused again, but he had the feeling that if he were to ask about it, he would be told that it was a "girl thing."

That answer always dissatisfied Gaara. Why were "girl things" so difficult to understand, but everyone was able to recognize them? Why were there even "girl things?" Did that mean that there were "boy things?" Was he going to have weird freak out sessions because it was a "boy thing" and not just because he was the vessel for Shukaku?

'Life was much simpler when I could solve all of life's problems with homicide,' Gaara thought to himself as moved towards a group of people. He pushed his way gently but firmly through the crowd, curios as to what was going on. In the center of the crowd sat Nara, who scowled at a board set up between himself and another person. Finally Shikamaru moved a piece and sat back with a smirk. His opponent groaned, threw some dollars onto the table, and sulked off. Shikamaru calmly collected the money, and started gathering the pieces while the crowd left. Soon it was just Gaara and Nara.

Gaara furrowed his brow. There were still a couple hours before dinner tonight, he didn't have to interact with Nara if he didn't want to. They would meet up again later in the evening. However there was something bothering him...

"What color of roses will you bring my sister?" he asked bluntly.

Nara seemed to ponder his question for a moment before answering. "I wasn't planning on bringing roses," he said finally.

"What color of flowers will you bring my sister?" Gaara asked again.

"Does Temari want flowers?" Nara asked.

Gaara thought about his answer. If he said yes, then Nara would know that Temari wanted the night to be special. Then he would laugh at Temari. If he said no, then the night might not be special. Gaara decided to leave. He hated answering questions that he didn't know how to answer, but everybody kept asking him the questions in the first place.

'I really hate "girl things,"' he thought as he returned to the hotel room. Hopefully Temari had returned to some semblance of sanity.

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Shizune was a little more busy today then she had been in a while. Fujita-sensei, the man the three ninjas from Suna had escorted here, had fallen into a coma. Rei-san, the young lady that team 8 had brought in was showing the same symptoms. Because of their shared symptoms and the rumors an epidemic near the boarder, both patients had been quarantined.

Unfortunately more and more people were coming into the emergency room with the same symptoms. The quarantine section was going to over flow, and it was beginning to look pointless. Almost everyone who came in infected complained that they had been bitten by another person.

After taking a quick stretch to relieve some of the stress building up in her back, she smiled at a little boy with tears gathered in the corner of his eye. He had been playing in the park with his friends when a teenager had come up to him and grabbed him. It turns out the teenager was his older brother, and he had just been playing a joke, but when the older brother had fainted, the little boy didn't know what to do.

"We just contacted your parents, your mother said that she would be here soon. Are you going to be alright if I leave you alone?" she asked patiently. Normally she would sit with the boy and make sure that his mother got here in one piece, but there were twelve little kids with similar stories to him that needed to be taken care of. Not to mention all the other patients/family members waiting to be seen to.

"I-is Oniichan going to be okay?" the little boy asked, obviously trying not to cry. Shizune's heart squeezed a little at his bravery.

"We're going to do the best we can to make him better," she said. Careful to make no promises other then that.

"That's what they said about Otousan," the boy started to whine. "He died!"

Shizune cursed under her breath. Thanks to that little trip down memory lane, what she was about to do was going to seem really cruel. "I'm sorry that that happened to you, but I've got to go. Are you going to be okay here while you wait for your mom?" she made sure to add a bit of impatience to her voice so that the little boy knew that she had to go. He nodded glumly. Shizune ignored the glares she received from people in the waiting room as she ruffled his hair and made her way to where the patients were.

She approached the room with the little boys brother, and looked at the chart the nurse had left with all of his stats. Shizune entered the room while reading the chart.

"Hey Shizune-nechan," the patient said familiarly. Shizune looked up in surprise.

"Kiba-kun!" she exclaimed. Kiba-kun gave her a weary, but wolfish smile. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, you know," Kiba-kun said casually, "I'm just here to check out the hot nurses."

"And I'm sure you passing out has nothing to do with it," Shizune said wryly. Even though she was tired and wanted nothing more then to climb into bed and sleep for the next decade or so, she couldn't help being charmed by young ninja.

"My little brother just over reacted. I'm perfectly healthy."

"Perfectly healthy people don't just pass out," Shizune pointed out wryly. "How about you tell me what really happened."

"I don't know really..." Kiba said looking unsure, "I snuck up on Kouji-chan and picked him up, but then I felt really dizzy. Next thing I know I'm here."

"Hmm... well you do have a slight fever... but other then that you appear healthy. How's your appetite?"

"It's been a little off lately," Kiba-kun hedged.

Shizune raised an eyebrow at his less then forthright answer. "Tell me, has anything unusually happened to you recently?"

Kiba-kun gave her an 'are you kidding look?' but answered anyway. "Well, the mission I just got back from was kind of freaky, but other then that nope."

"You weren't bitten or anything like that were you?" Shizune asked, remembering the report she had read about that mission. She had a sneaking suspicion about what had happened. It was probably a combination of lack of sleep, not eating, and the start of a cold that caused the boy to faint, but it never hurt to be cautious.

"I think I would remember being bitten."

"Hmm..." Shizune said, looking at his charts. "Well there's nothing physically wrong with you that I can see. The nurse will come around with your discharge papers. Just take it easy and try to get some rest."

"Gotcha," Kiba-kun gave a relieved grin. "So, am I free to go?"

"I'll try to get a nurse here quickly. Who knows, maybe you can walk home with Kouji-kun and your mother. She's on her way to pick him up right now."

Kiba-kun groaned, "Man, Mom's going to kill me for this."

"If you say so," Shizune replied, grinning as she left the room. She was pretty sure that Kiba's mother would be more relieved than angry.

Her grin quickly disappeared when she saw the state that the emergency room was in. 'How is it possible that things got that much worse in the 5 minutes I spent with Kiba-kun?' she asked herself as she surveyed the room full of sick people. She shook her head as she called out the next name on the list. It was going to be one of those nights.

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Shino walked home in the dark, after leaving a flustered Hinata-chan in the hands of Ino-san. It was nice to see Hinata-chan becoming more outgoing, even if she was bright red the whole time. She needed to have more in her life then training and stalking Uzumaki-san. One of which wasn't really an option for her because he was who knows where, training to get the Uchiha back.

Although Shino was happy for Hinata-chan, it meant that he would spend the rest of the evening alone, instead of taking care of her. He secretly hoped that she would need it, so he could distract himself from thoughts of their last mission. 'Maybe Kiba will offer a distraction,' he thought as he headed to his male teammate's house. 'It doesn't even matter if Kiba is okay,' Shino thought, 'I can bother him enough to provide the entertainment for everyone.'

He became aware of a low moaning sound coming from behind him. Then from his sides. He moved forward a little more quickly, only to discover that the sound was also coming from in front of him. He was surrounded and his kekkai were oddly silent, as though faced with something so unnatural... no... something so wrong, that they didn't want to give away their presence. Shino had never heard of anything like this happening before, and it was the second time he experienced it.

Shino paused briefly as he considered his options. He could try to rush past who or whatever was following him, but something told him that should be saved for a last ditch effort. He couldn't detect anything above him, but he hadn't been sure that he had been followed until he heard the moaning, so he wasn't sure if that would be the safest route for him to take. From what he could tell the best way out of this situation would be to go down...

He completed the last of his hand signals as the first one sprang, grasping at his coat. Although he loathed to do so, as his body started merging with the earth bellow him, he slipped out of his jacket. He did not want to risk having one of those things underground with him. Besides, he didn't know what would happen if he had an unexpected visitor during this jutsu.

Once there was six feet of solid earth between him and his attackers, Shino's kekkai started to move again. They were agitated about something, but their agitation was making them hard to understand. Shino figured that he only had five minutes underground, before it became uncomfortable for him and his insects. Kiba's house was six minutes away. If he started for there from here, he would be almost there before he needed to return to the surface. He would have to be extra careful though, most of his weapons were back with his coat, and he was facing an enemy that he couldn't detect.

Getting back up was his first priority. At the moment he was at a disadvantage, but once he reached Kiba he could restock on weapons and possibly borrow a jacket. Once he felt less naked he could send out the alert of immediate danger to Konoha. He wasn't sure what they were up against, but if his kekkai were worried, then it was big.

Moving underground was a little more difficult than he remembered. It was pitch dark, the earth was difficult to move, and his kekkai were still too agitated to understand. All he could tell at the moment was that he was headed in the right direction and going to end up very dirty. He hated being dirty.

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Chouji had just returned from a mission with his father. He felt tired, but happy because the mission was a success. He made his way through the village listening to the hustle and bustle of the people he protected. He loved this time of day, when some shops were closing and others opening. When people were running last minute errands before they headed home for the evening. It was such a reassuring time of day. To him it was a reminder of all the good he did as a ninja.

He felt the ground beneath him shift slightly, telling him that there was someone moving about underground. If he were to go back in the direction that he felt the person moving from, he would probably see a person sized pile of dirt somewhere. It might also offer clues as to who the person is and what their intentions are.

It was practically impossible to follow whoever it was, because they could go under buildings that Chouji would have to go around, but finding their starting point should be fairly easy. The shift had been from the west, heading east, so he went the opposite direction.

Soon he found what he was looking for, a person sized mound of earth. On it was a familiar looking gray jacket. Chouji cautiously approached the jacket, prepared for any traps. He couldn't see anyone around the jacket, but just because he couldn't see them didn't mean that they weren't there.

Once he reached the jacket, he immediately recognized it as Shino's-suns. Had the situation not been as dire as it appeared to be, he would have been amused. Chouji knew how much Shino-kun was attached to his jacket. Trying to forcibly remove Shino-kun's jacket was akin to calling Chouji the f-word. In the academy it used to send Shino-kun into quiet rages when a teacher told him that he needed to remove his coat. The teacher never made that mistake twice. However it appeared that Shino-kun had removed his jacket willingly. It was a very serious situation when Shino-kun went around with out his jacket.

Chouji thought carefully about what he would do if he were in Shino-kun's position. He would probably go to Shikamaru's house, because Shikamaru would know what to do... 'Except Shikamaru and Shino-kun aren't that close...' Chouji thought, idly running his fingers over hem of the coat. 'Who is Shino-kun close to?'

Chouji started walking, even though he didn't have a destination in mind. There was something about the area that bothered him, although he couldn't say what it was. He didn't sense anybody there or any killing intent, although he did feel a kind of hunger that made him feel very much like prey. It wasn't even his ninja senses telling him that there was danger, it was far more primitive sense. One that was older then humanity almost.

In the background the wind moaned. It wasn't until he felt cold but surprisingly strong hands grab his shoulders that he realized that there was no wind.


End file.
